Rosin Technique....Easy DIY Solventless

[herbivore21]

Ok, so I am back to provide some initial findings with the Panini grill non stick alternative. I must qualify that for a few days, I am working with a very broken hair straightener which presses very unevenly and can cleave through parchment without very careful use!

First of all - this stuff cuts like a dream. Seems to cut perfectly straight with my scissors.

Second - I find that this stuff works best if you cut two separate pieces and make a sandwich with the bud in-between. I find that the squares you cut out for squishing buds inside of should be about 4x the surface area of the nug being squished. This is very easy to achieve vs trying to cut parchment and other such materials. I am told that this material does not take well to folding.

Reusability - Ok, if this stuff gets bent out of shape (say by a mangled hair straightener in a vise), if will lose shape to the point that the very fine pores which comprise the surface can open up. I tested this with rosin deliberately squished into damaged surfaces - the rosin does not appear at all different under the microscope than rosin that has not touched the deformed stuff. Still - anything that gets deformed is thrown out - it makes collection more difficult, I do think my straightener being seriously broken is causing the deformation. I'll have proper plates within days to ensure this isn't a problem anymore

I am quite confident that with a better, even pressing surface and more dialled in temps/external measurement, these will be the best option for a very long time.

Please do stay tuned though, if the deformation happens at these pressures with a better set of plates, this may not be what we were looking for after all!

 

[Monsoon]

My RosinWorks plates are now at customs in my city so fingers crossed I'll get them in the next day or two! Unfortunately there's a few other pieces I'm missing to get properly squishing. The c-clamps I ordered to secure the base plate didn't work so I'm ordering some rare-earth magnets to use instead. I ordered what might be a year's supply of parchment paper from the Black Friday sale for BlackLabelPaper Co which should be here by the end of the week. Mash Mesh bags are probably still more than a week away so I'll either find an alternative or do some naked squishes in the mean time.

Ok, so I am back to provide some initial findings with the Panini grill non stick alternative. I must qualify that for a few days, I am working with a very broken hair straightener which presses very unevenly and can cleave through parchment without very careful use!

First of all - this stuff cuts like a dream. Seems to cut perfectly straight with my scissors.

Second - I find that this stuff works best if you cut two separate pieces and make a sandwich with the bud in-between. I find that the squares you cut out for squishing buds inside of should be about 4x the surface area of the nug being squished. This is very easy to achieve vs trying to cut parchment and other such materials. I am told that this material does not take well to folding.

Reusability - Ok, if this stuff gets bent out of shape (say by a mangled hair straightener in a vise), if will lose shape to the point that the very fine pores which comprise the surface can open up. I tested this with rosin deliberately squished into damaged surfaces - the rosin does not appear at all different under the microscope than rosin that has not touched the deformed stuff. Still - anything that gets deformed is thrown out - it makes collection more difficult, I do think my straightener being seriously broken is causing the deformation. I'll have proper plates within days to ensure this isn't a problem anymore

I am quite confident that with a better, even pressing surface and more dialled in temps/external measurement, these will be the best option for a very long time.

Please do stay tuned though, if the deformation happens at these pressures with a better set of plates, this may not be what we were looking for after all!

Is this the beta stuff from D-Nail or did you order it from someplace else? Do you find it easier to collect the rosin after compared to other types you've used?

 

[herbivore21]

My RosinWorks plates are now at customs in my city so fingers crossed I'll get them in the next day or two! Unfortunately there's a few other pieces I'm missing to get properly squishing. The c-clamps I ordered to secure the base plate didn't work so I'm ordering some rare-earth magnets to use instead. I ordered what might be a year's supply of parchment paper from the Black Friday sale for BlackLabelPaper Co which should be here by the end of the week. Mash Mesh bags are probably still more than a week away so I'll either find an alternative or do some naked squishes in the mean time.


Is this the beta stuff from D-Nail or did you order it from someplace else? Do you find it easier to collect the rosin after compared to other types you've used?

Sweet, I'll be able to report on my vise setup just before you get your press I am definitely getting epic results already though. Look at this stubby, fat wad of pull-n-snap that I squished at 250x love the thick edges in high resolution, they make me want another dab! lol this was squished in the stuff a few pages back recommended by one CEO of D-Nail (the mystery bubbleman stuff - found at: http://www.webstaurantstore.com/16-...lux-hsg-panini-grill-10-pack/335AJ330810.html). I only hand pre-squished the nugs then squished it in a broken hair straightener (very uneven closing of plates) in a vise between two small sheets of the above. this is the 3rd squish of .75g of bud, last few were much bigger!

This is on the end of my flat tip HE dabber for reference.

 

[Darkgt15]

Are you guys showing good results with dry sift or bubble?

 

[herbivore21]

Are you guys showing good results with dry sift or bubble?

I've had amazing results with both, but dry sift is more difficult due to lack of moisture relative to bubble, which squishes up a dream!

 

[Monsoon]

Are you guys showing good results with dry sift or bubble?

Haven't made any rosin yet but I've heard people getting better results with dry sift after they add some water right before pressing. I think 1 drop per gram to the pouch of sift works or dampening the bag.

 

[Pyr0]

I ordered a cheap set of straighteners which arrived today...
I couldn't help chuckling when I opened the packaging and saw the logo on the box lol

According to the instructions they can be set from 50-243C (122~470F)
Hopefully once I have some more bud available I can try them out some rosin

 

[Darkgt15]

I was going to try that . makes sense.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Haven't made any rosin yet but I've heard people getting better results with dry sift after they add some water right before pressing. I think 1 drop per gram to the pouch of sift works or dampening the bag.

 

[EpicNameGuy]

@EpicNameGuy , I read a post on FB saying one of the main reasons it is hard to test for silicone is because most of the seals in the testing equipment, are made of silicone? Any truth here?

I also see a guy on FB pressing in the vertical and just letting the rosin drip onto parchment. He has not disclosed the details of his setup yet but it seems similar to when I tried using the teflon coated jaws in the vise and letting it drip onto parchment..

He is pressing 86g at once where I was pressing less than a gram, but it does take the silicone question out of the equation for sure. I am all for that, until we know for sure.

#driptech on FB

Sorry for the delayed response. I've been in Florida with family for the holiday. Hopefully everyone enjoyed theirs.

I honestly have no insight into whether that is true or not. I could only speculate. On the one hand, I suppose that's possible. On the other, I think the testing being unavailable has more to do with cost-value vs capability.

This is mostly a one-and-done type of test. Once people gain insight into this matter, the capability will fade into obscurity.. so for a business, it's tough to justify. Unless of course you're just either doing it for yourself (as the lab tech / chemist) or as a gift to the community for whatever reason. What those folks spend time doing, however, also takes them away from other things they could be doing... other revenue generating things to be exact.

That would be my best guess. Not that my opinion is based on any area of professional expertise I'm drawing from, but I doubt the equipment is the barrier personally.

 

[Monsoon]

So apparently as of this morning EspressoTech is now a thing that exists. Exactly as the name suggests, people are now running flowers instead of coffee through a proper espresso machine and then purging off the water. I kinda wonder which common household appliance will be co-opted for concentrates next

 

[randomtoker]

Check out: The Rosinalationarator!

Haha, just a thrift shop hair straightener ripped down and double sided taped to an Irwin xp600 grip clamp (no temp control yet, I'll wire a dimmer inline).

Worked great testing before the tear down / tape up. Looking forward to trying it out now that it's all optimized. Heading to a new dispensary right now that has Blue Haze on sale for $40 1/2 oz!

All I need is a hip holster and I can carry this thing everywhere I go!

 

[Darkgt15]

Would this press work with the 2 inch to 1 inch ram h press plates Joel w has for sale?

Do you guys think these two would work well with each other?

http://i68.tinypic.com/157c9w2.jpg

 

[Monsoon]

Would this press work with the 2 inch to 1 inch ram h press plates Joel w has for sale?


http://i68.tinypic.com/157c9w2.jpg

Yup, though you'd use the press without the can-crusher part.

 

[thewhitelotus]

having a hard time finding plates for a 6ton press. Trying to source locally for the time being and just heat up like Heady does, but eventually want to invest in some quality made heated plates.

 

[randomtoker]

So I hit a brand new dispensary. The $40 1/2 oz sale bud was pretty shwaggy. I got a 1/4 to cook with, tried a little test press and confirmed my suspicion that it was pretty lifeless. They had dry, but sticky, Blue Dream on sale for $40 1/4 oz. I got a 1/4 of that and pressed it with my newly built grip press.

I could tell the buds were quite old. I've found better, fresher, frostier buds on sale for the same price before elsewhere. I hydrated them thoroughly and managed to squash 1.16 grams from it. ~16.6% return. The rosin is quite dark and smells a little stale like the buds.

It was a good experiment to see what sort of life I can squeeze out of cheap stale buds. It amazes me how exactly like the bud rosin smells. So cool. I'll stick with fresh sale bud and top shelf deals from now on. I'm watching prices on kief as well. As long as I'm beating dispensary concentrate price, I'll keep doing this.

 

[Monsoon]

So I hit a brand new dispensary. The $40 1/2 oz sale bud was pretty shwaggy. I got a 1/4 to cook with, tried a little test press and confirmed my suspicion that it was pretty lifeless. They had dry, but sticky, Blue Dream on sale for $40 1/4 oz. I got a 1/4 of that and pressed it with my newly built grip press.

I could tell the buds were quite old. I've found better, fresher, frostier buds on sale for the same price before elsewhere. I hydrated them thoroughly and managed to squash 1.16 grams from it. ~16.6% return. The rosin is quite dark and smells a little stale like the buds.

It was a good experiment to see what sort of life I can squeeze out of cheap stale buds. It amazes me how exactly like the bud rosin smells. So cool. I'll stick with fresh sale bud and top shelf deals from now on. I'm watching prices on kief as well. As long as I'm beating dispensary concentrate price, I'll keep doing this.

My best yielding QWET so far, albeit a dewaxed product, was 16% and was made with high quality frosty buds. So sad especially since local prices are high right now but I'm still coming in at least $20 below buying shatter up front. I still have some flowers left from that batch so I'll be able to get some direct comparison data for us.

 

[randomtoker]

Ya, I'm very happy with rosin tek for generating concentrates so far! I've figured out the hydration/time/temp equation and I seem to have adequate pressure (although I'd like to make a bottle-jack press eventually to reduce physical effort and get it all in one press).

The game for me now is getting the deals on the freshest, frostiest buds. I'm not currently growing. I know a dispensary with rapid inventory shift and regular deals. They often have sales for $40 1/4 ounces, sometimes they're clearing old bud, sometimes they got a lot of something fresh and they're moving some of it cheap to normalize their stock across strains. That's the deal to buy, but you gotta be watching their stock to know which is which and you gotta look at it and smell it to make sure. This last quarter I got from the new shop I was checking out was very very stale, I knew it but wanted to try it. Glad I still pulled a good return out of it, good to know it's possible, but the rosin tastes like the buds smelled (like old mexican dirt weed, yuck).

But ya, concentrates range from $25-$60 /g at the shops around me, and I think my rosin smells & tastes (except this batch), and hits way better than the cheaper shop concentrate so as long as I can get over a gram out of a $40 1/4 oz, I'm doing ok. I'm going to watch kief prices, it ranges from $10-$20 per gram here. I might buy 4 grams if I can find some nice smelling stuff at $10/g and see what kind of return I get to compare.

 

[herbivore21]

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[Copacetic]

So apparently as of this morning EspressoTech is now a thing that exists. Exactly as the name suggests, people are now running flowers instead of coffee through a proper espresso machine and then purging off the water. I kinda wonder which common household appliance will be co-opted for concentrates next

This is interesting
Thanks for the link, have asked to join the group, membership pending.

I wonder if anyone in that group has tried espressotech with rosin chips?

It occurred to me some time ago that a way of encouraging rosin to leave the chip as it's compressed would be to use compressed air/steam introduced through the middle of the pressing plate/s.

I haven't been able to come up with any sensible ideas to overcome:
1- parchment or other press/collect materials would prevent air reaching the chip (without breaching the material anyway)
2- Any holes in the plates (for the introduction of pressurized air/steam) would allow some rosin to escape, even if fitted with valves.

As this idea stands, it doesn't seem worth pursuing, but I thought I'd post it here in case it helps to inspire someone else to have a proper idea

 

[Monsoon]

This is interesting
Thanks for the link, have asked to join the group, membership pending.

I wonder if anyone in that group has tried espressotech with rosin chips?

It occurred to me some time ago that a way of encouraging rosin to leave the chip as it's compressed would be to use compressed air/steam introduced through the middle of the pressing plate/s.

I haven't been able to come up with any sensible ideas to overcome:
1- parchment or other press/collect materials would prevent air reaching the chip (without breaching the material anyway)
2- Any holes in the plates (for the introduction of pressurized air/steam) would allow some rosin to escape, even if fitted with valves.

As this idea stands, it doesn't seem worth pursuing, but I thought I'd post it here in case it helps to inspire someone else to have a proper idea

It may have been short-lived, the group seems to have gone to shit after some people didn't like their results, I'm guessing some people didn't give it enough time. Should have an update on Hash Church on whether it's worth pursuing or not, I'm thinking it might be more of a niche product in the end.

 

[Joel W.]

Just tried to press between some tempered gorilla glass plates designed for screen protectors. They held up to the pressure just fine but the puck has to be scraped off, along with the rosin.

Just another material that does not work well..

 

[iDRINKBLEACH]

This is interesting
Thanks for the link, have asked to join the group, membership pending.

I wonder if anyone in that group has tried espressotech with rosin chips?

It occurred to me some time ago that a way of encouraging rosin to leave the chip as it's compressed would be to use compressed air/steam introduced through the middle of the pressing plate/s.

I haven't been able to come up with any sensible ideas to overcome:
1- parchment or other press/collect materials would prevent air reaching the chip (without breaching the material anyway)
2- Any holes in the plates (for the introduction of pressurized air/steam) would allow some rosin to escape, even if fitted with valves.

As this idea stands, it doesn't seem worth pursuing, but I thought I'd post it here in case it helps to inspire someone else to have a proper idea

So I cannot find anything on this espresso tech. Not interested so much in trying more just intrigued.

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

So I cannot find anything on this espresso tech. Not interested so much in trying more just intrigued.

...you just quoted all the information available on it. Uses air or steam to help remove the oil. No feasible idea of going about it.

 

[Monsoon]

So I cannot find anything on this espresso tech. Not interested so much in trying more just intrigued.

The best/only place is the facebook group. It's private but free to join so your activity there won't show up on the newsfeed.

Unless Canada Post plays some cruel joke on me (it's happened before), I should be getting my RosinWorks plates tomorrow! I've already got an array of strains moistening up with Boveda 62% and I've got a couple kinds of tea bags to try out. Also got my rare earth magnets in and they worked perfectly to secure the base plates to the frame and I have some extras to secure the bottom heated plate from moving. It's a nice clean option to keep everything together if you get a cheaper shop press, I'll post pics of them once everything is finally setup.

 

[Copacetic]

Just tried to press between some tempered gorilla glass plates designed for screen protectors. They held up to the pressure just fine but the puck has to be scraped off, along with the rosin.

Just another material that does not work well..

I'm pretty certain you'll already know this, but just in case:
Please be aware that those g-glass screen protectors have a very thin layer of silicone material on the contact side to adhere to the screen.

Apologies if you've alreadyconsidered this!

Brilliant idea BTW.